


A Long Minute

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Comment Fic, F/M, Fluff, Het, Rare Pair, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-24 00:15:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10730241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Cisco asks Caitlin about her relationship with Joe.





	A Long Minute

**Author's Note:**

> Theme: flowers  
> Prompt: The Flash, Joe/Caitlin, flowers just because.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Cisco." Caitlin picked up her coat and leaned down to get her purse out of her desk drawer. When she straightened up again, Cisco was looking at her with a glint in his eye and a smile playing around his lips. She didn't mean to ask but she heard herself say it anyway. "What?" 

Cisco's smile widened; well, she'd known it would. He glanced exaggeratedly at his watch too. "You're leaving early is all." 

It was a mild comment, but she still heard the question behind it. "There are no tests running in the Speed Lab," she reminded him, deciding not to point out that they were the last two there. "No meta humans to worry about. Nothing here that needs my attention." 

All of which was perfectly true but from Cisco's smirk, he knew there was another reason. "And you have a date." 

Caitlin felt her cheeks flush but there was no point denying it. "And I have a date," she allowed. "Joe's coming over." 

Cisco's grin stretched from ear to ear, Cheshire Cat like. "Ok, now I haven't asked because I don't want to be all in your business..." 

"Oh please." Caitlin rolled her eyes. "When has that ever stopped you?" 

"Fair enough." Cisco held his hands up and inclined his head, conceding her point. "But you and Joe... How's that's going?" 

Caitlin couldn't help herself, her smile grew even wider. "Good," she said softly. "It's really good." 

"Yeah?" Cisco lifted an eyebrow. "Because I know Iris was a little weird at first...."

"She's still a little weird about it sometimes." But it was better than it had been so Caitlin was taking that as a win. "But we expected that." 

"I wouldn't ask," Cisco said. "But since you guys have been together, you've been..." He paused, as if considering what to say. When he purses his lips, Caitlin reconsidered that - that was the look he got when he knew what he wanted to say, just wasn't sure if he should say it. 

"What?" She was genuinely curious. 

"Happy." The word made her blink. "You've been happy. Like, back before all this-" He waved his hand to take in the cortex, Barry's suit, the entirety of STAR Labs. "-happened levels of happy." He grinned, looked her up and down. "It looks good on you." 

Despite his words, or maybe because of them, Caitlin felt a lump rising in her throat. "I am happy, Cisco," she said, as surprised as anyone to realise that it was true. 

"Good. You deserve it." Sincerity rang in his tone and Caitlin had to swallow hard. Cisco looked none too dry eyed either and after a moment he clapped his hands. "All right, enough of this mushy stuff. What are you two crazy kids up to tonight? A little Netflix and chill?" 

He waggled his eyebrows comically and Caitlin laughed, because if she was honest, he wasn't that far from the truth. "He's cooking me dinner," she said and it was her turn to check her watch then. "He should be nearly finished by now, I should go-" 

Cisco blinked, tilted his head and held up an index finger. Caitlin knew that look too - it was the one he got when things weren't quite adding up for him and he was trying to make them all make sense. "I thought you said he was coming ov-" He stopped as the penny dropped, along with his jaw. "Are you guys at the "here's the key to my place" place already?" 

She wasn't sure whether he sounded amazed or amused. Either way, Caitlin's cheeks flamed scarlet. "He had an early shift today," she said. "It made sense..." Cisco was openly chuckling by then and Caitlin stopped talking, shook her head as she gave him her best raised eyebrow. "I'm going now." 

"Does this mean I'm not getting leftovers?" Cisco's laughter followed her down the hallways and she laughed too, kept on smiling the whole way home. 

Opening her front door, she was smiling for an entirely different reason. She'd texted Joe to say that she was on her way and he'd evidently been preparing for her arrival - the first thing she saw when she walked into her living room was a bottle of red wine on the table, two glasses on either side. The lights were down low, candles on the table and on the mantelpiece casting an almost magical glow and the smell coming from the kitchen made her mouth water straight away. 

"I thought I heard the door." Joe's voice was low, full of smiles and when she turned to face him, her breath caught in her throat. In his hands was a huge bunch of flowers, bright and colourful, and in its centre were some yellow roses, one of her favourite flowers. He held them out to her as he came towards her and she bit her lip to keep back a flood of emotion. 

"What are these for?" She buried her head in the blooms as he leaned in and kissed her cheek. Not that this was the first time he'd bought her flowers, but there had been reasons the other times - her birthday, a missed dinner date because he'd been called to a scene, once because they'd had a truly horrendous few days chasing a meta human. Today, indeed the last few days, had been positively calm in comparison. 

"Just because." His arms slid around her waist, rested low on her back. "I saw them... thought of you." 

"They're beautiful." She looked up at him, kissed his lips. "I should put them in some water..."

Joe made a tsk-ing sound in the back of his throat, took the flowers from her arms and placed them carefully on the table. "In a minute," he said, returning his arms to their place around her waist, drawing her close to him and kissing her properly. 

It turned into a long minute, but Caitlin didn't mind in the least.


End file.
